


The Fish (Carassius Auratus)

by margaritaville_antifa



Category: Yes (Band)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-26
Updated: 2019-12-26
Packaged: 2021-02-26 09:15:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,192
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21967006
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/margaritaville_antifa/pseuds/margaritaville_antifa
Summary: Jon makes an impulse buy at a pet store.
Kudos: 1





	The Fish (Carassius Auratus)

After yet another night on the road, ARW had found themselves in another city. Rick and Jon had no idea where they were. Trevor said it was Salt Lake City.

“Salt Lake, huh?” Rick said. “Isn’t that where all the morons live?”

“MORMONS. They’re called Mormons,” Trevor said. “I think we should make a stop here for the night.”

Trevor pulled up to a Comfort Inn. Luckily for them, there was a room available for three older gentlemen. Rick felt uneasy by the weird stares from the receptionist. Did she think they were… gay? Probably.

The receptionist gave them the key and they all went up to their shared room, which only had one queen-sized bed.

“What’s the meaning of this?” Rick said incredulously, looking at the bed. “They probably think we’re queers!”

“It’s fine,” Trevor said. “But if you fart while we’re sleeping, I’m gonna kill you.”

“Whatever…”

Jon peaked out the window. “Hey Rick, it’s still light outside, do you want to go on a walk with me?”

“Yeah sure,” Rick grumbled. “Trevor, are you coming?”

“God no, I’m tired as a dog.” Trevor flopped on the bed. “You guys go have fun without me.”

Rick and Jon ended up going to Petco. Jon looked at all the cute fluffy bunnies, and the rats, and the guinea pigs, and budgies, and gushed over each and every one of them. All of Mother Nature’s creatures were so delightful and awe-inspiring and he wanted to give a home to each and every one of them.

Rick went to check the section with the shelter cats, but it was closed for the day so he went to the fish section instead. It reminded him of Chris. God, he missed that son of a bitch…

“Zooooom! What are you looking at, Ricky?” Jon said, running up behind Rick and making him jump a bit.

“Jesus Christ, don’t sneak up on me like that,” Rick said, looking down on his short friend. “I’m just looking at the goldfish…”

“Ah, I see... Such beautiful animals…”

“You say that about every animal.”

“But it’s true! Nature never fails to amaze me…”

“Hey Jon, do you think any of these fish might be chris?”

“Oh my goddesses, you might be onto something! Chris could be one of these fish!” Jon looked closer at the tank when he saw one particular fish that was sitting at the bottom, lazing around. Just like Chris. “It’s this one!”

“Jon, wait! I was just joking…”  
But by that point it was too late. Jon was already talking to the employes and laying his money down for the fish and fish accesories. Rick face-palmed. What was Trevor going to say about all this?

“YOU DID WHAT?!”

“We had no choice!” Jon said. “You see, I have it on good authority that chris's spirit lives on in this fish.” He held up the bag containing “Chris.”

“You're crazy.” Trevor honestly couldn’t believe what he was hearing. Fish reincarnation?

“Hey watch it, Trevor! Jon may be odd but he isn’t crazy.” Rick said, sternly.

“You enabled this didn’t you?”

“I just made a small joke! What i can’t joke anymore? What do you want me to do next? Stop talking about my farts on twitter?”

“Actually yes, I do want you to stop doing that.”

Rick rolled his eyes. “Whatever. I need some curry.” He picked up the hotel-provided phone book and flipped through it, trying to look for an Indian restaurant that did delivery.

Trevor looked over at Jon setting up the aquarium. He hated to be the person to do this, he didn’t want to be the bad guy and tell Jon they couldn’t bring a fish with them on a road trip. But somebody needed to do it and it certainly wasn’t going to be Rick.

Trevor walked over to Jon and put a hand on his shoulder. “Hey Jon, sorry I called you crazy.”

“Oh, no hard feelings, Trev!”

“We still cant take this fish with us.”

Jon looked up at him, super offended. “But Trevor, this is Chris! I know it is! We just can’t leave him behind!”

“Jon, he’s not going to survive on our road trip. You know that.”

Jon looked down at the fish, tears welling in his bright eyes. “Yes... I suppose you’re right… But where do we leave him?”

“Easy,” said Rick, telephone wedged between his head and shoulder. “Just take it back to the pet store.”

“Alright, sounds good to me,” Trevor said.

“NO!” Jon said. “They’ll euthanize him!”

“They don’t euthanize fish!” trevor said. “Or maybe they do, I don't actually know.”

“He’s not going back there, and that’s FINAL!”

Trevor sighed and went over to Rick. “Listen, I’m pinning the blame for this on you so you gotta get rid of this fish. Now.”

“Oh, sod off, I didn’t do anything.”

“Exactly! You could’ve prevented this from happening, but you didn’t. Now you better find out what to do with this fish right fucking now!”

Rick rolled his eyes. Trevor could be such a nag sometimes. Well, if he wanted him to get rid of the damn thing, then so be it.

“Jon?” Rick said. “We’re gonna find a place for Chris to go that ISN’T a pet store.”

“Okay! Let’s zoooooom out!”

Rick and Jon wandered through a residential area for quite some time. Rick looking over the picket fences, being thankful that he was tall enough to do so. Jon walked dutifully by his side, carrying “Chris” in his plastic bag.

“Rick, what are we doing here?”

“You’ll see, you'll see… a-HA!” Rick finally spotted the one thing he was looking for: a backyard koi pond.

Jon gasped as Rick jumped the fence. “Rick! That’s someone's property! They might shoot you!”

“Be quiet and hand me the fish!”

Jon gave the fish to Rick and climbed up and over the fence, having a bit more trouble because of his short stature. He followed Rick to the edge of the pond, where two koi fish were swimming around.  
“Oh, how wonderous! They look like Chris but bigger.”

“I’m gonna leave Chris here,” Rick said. “He’ll have a wonderful time. He’ll get fed and have company, it'll be great!”

Jon was reassured. “He would be happy here.”

“Yes! Yes he would!” Rick said. “It’s really the most ideal life you can have.”

“Alright. So long Chris. Thank you for blessing me with your presence, just for one more day.”

And with that, Rick let the little goldfish go in the pond. The bigger fish investigated him a bit at first but then left him alone, going about their business. Jon cried a tear of joy. He was so relieved that his dear old friend was safe and happy. “Alright Rick, let’s go back to the hotel.”

“But first, we should stop to eat.”

Rick and Jon both hopped the fence again, landing back on the sidewalk. As soon as they were gone, a cat jumped into the yard from the roof and swiped her paw into the pond, nabbing Chris and biting his stupid fish-head right off his stupid fish-body.

The end.


End file.
